Author Archives: SkOw4Liberty

05.20.13
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Reason.com: Justin Amash, Jared Polis Introduce Bill Requiring a Court Order for Telephone Records

While the White House very lamely attempted to do damage control on the Department of Justice’s grotesque Associated Press surveillance dragnet by unconvincingly re-animating a push for a federal shield law exempting the professional press from most non-national-security-related federal fishing expeditions, some actual civil libertarians in Washington have introduced a bill that would increase protections for all Americans against unchecked federal snooping.

Via InstaPundit, here’s your press release:

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), joined by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), today introduced legislation to prevent federal agencies from seizing Americans’ telephone records without a court order.

H.R. 2014, the Telephone Records Protection Act, requires court approval when the government demands telephone records from service providers. Current law allows the government to subpoena such records unilaterally, without any judicial review. The Department of Justice likely used its administrative subpoena authority to seize the Associated Press’s telephone records in its recent investigation of a CIA leak.

“The Justice Department’s seizure of the AP’s phone records—likely without the sign-off of a single judge—raises serious First and Fourth Amendment concerns. Regardless of whether DOJ violates the legitimate privacy expectations of reporters or ordinary Americans, we deserve to know that the federal government can’t seize our records without judicial review,” said Amash.

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The Liberty Report Take: It is refreshing these days to find elected officials committed to upholding the constitution, civil liberties, and actually RESTRAINING the power of the government.

05.19.13
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The Motley Fool: How Much GM Truly Stole From American Taxpayers

General Motors  (NYSE: GM )  figures its re-entry into the S&P 500 club will be quite soon, even though the company is still in the early stages of its turnaround. There’s no denying that the U.S. automotive recovery is going well for Detroit. It’s only been a few years since the ugly recession, financial collapse, and ensuing bailouts for two of Detroit’s Big Three, the exception being Ford  (NYSE: F ) . And all three companies have gained market share this year in the U.S. at the expense of Japanese rivals Toyota  (NYSE: TM )  and Honda  (NYSE: HMC) . GM just recorded its 13th consecutive profitable quarter, so the nearly $50 billion that taxpayers like you and I funded to save GM was a huge success. Right?

Wrong.

Most people don’t realize how much GM actually took from taxpayers, and how little it’s given back. If I told you GM has repaid only $6.7 billion out of the $49.5 billion in loans it was given, would you be surprised? If I told you the expected loss to the U.S. Treasury of roughly $12 billion isn’t even a fraction of the real cost, would you believe me? If not, you might be in for a nasty surprise.

Bailout by the numbers The Treasury plans to exit its entire holdings of GM by next April. By the end of this past March, the government had reclaimed just over $30 billion of its investment, leaving a substantial loss. While the government says it didn’t anticipate making a profit from saving the auto industry, the other $419 billion in TARP funds were 94% recovered — making GM a big loser. At today’s GM stock price, the Treasury looks to lose between $11 billion and $12 billion, unless the stock price changes drastically.

Yet that number doesn’t tell the whole story.

Consider that the only true loan GM received from the U.S. government was for $6.7 billion at 7% interest, which it has since repaid. The majority of the nearly $50 billion was in stock purchases by the U.S. Treasury at a price that GM didn’t lose money when recently rebuying shares.

Also consider that GM was “gifted” tax losses from the “Old GM” corporation in amounts of $45 billion. What that really means is the “New GM” can write off current profits up to that amount and not pay taxes on it. That’s a complete joke, in my opinion.

Think of it like this: GM took our tax dollars to save its company, and then after turning 13 quarters of profit, it still isn’t paying a single income-tax dollar. Are you kidding me? News flash: My recent taxes cost me and my wallet a bundle, and I didn’t turn billions in profit.

Too often, people assume that since GM received nearly $50 billion in taxpayer funding, and when people hear that GM has fully repaid its obligations, we assume that means it repaid the said $50 billion. That couldn’t be further from the truth. GM has merely paid its initial pure loan of $6.7 billion with interest, and rebought some of its own shares from the Treasury — often at a cheaper price. Most of us taxpayers don’t even realize Ford paid an effective tax rate of 26% in 2012, compared with 0% for GM — a complete joke to Ford, which didn’t take any of our taxpayer dollars.

Bottom line You’ll see in my disclosure that I own stock in both Ford and GM. But I own stock in both for completely different reasons. I believe Ford has excellent management and is way ahead of GM in operating efficiency and global consolidation of platforms — helping it create net income off lower revenue. It’s also way ahead in creating value and quality in segment trends dominated by fuel efficiency — not to mention that its F-Series has been the best-selling truck for 36 years.

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Click below for the full article.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/05/19/how-much-gm-truly-stole-from-american-taxpayers.aspx

05.19.13
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The Washington Times: AP CEO calls Justice Department’s records seizure unconstitutional

The president and chief executive  officer of The Associated Press on Sunday  called the government’s secret  seizure of two months of reporters’ phone  records “unconstitutional”  and said the news cooperative had not ruled out  legal action against the  Justice  Department.

Gary Pruitt, in his first television   interviews since it was revealed the Justice Department subpoenaed phone   records of AP reporters and editors, said the move already has had a  chilling  effect on journalism. Mr. Pruitt said the  seizure has made sources  less willing to talk to AP journalists and, in the  long term, could  limit Americans’ information from all news outlets.

Mr. Pruitt told CBS‘ “Face the  Nation” that the government has no business monitoring the AP’s  newsgathering activities.

“And  if they restrict that apparatus … the people of the United States  will  only know what the government wants them to know, and that’s not  what the  framers of the Constitution had in mind when they wrote the  First Amendment,” he said.

In a separate interview with the AP, Mr.  Pruitt said the news cooperative had not decided  its next move but had  not ruled out legal action against the government.

“It’s too early  to know if we’ll take legal action, but I can tell you we  are positively  displeased and we do feel that our constitutional rights have  been  violated,” he said.

“They’ve been secretive; they’ve been  overbroad and abusive — so much so  that taken together, they are  unconstitutional because they violate our First  Amendment rights,” he  added.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch  McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said the government needs to stop leaks by  whatever means necessary.

“This  is an investigation that needs to happen because national security   leaks, of course, can get our agents overseas killed,” he said.

Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican and a  member of the Judiciary Committee,  said the  government should focus on those who leak sensitive national security   matters and not on journalists who report on them. Mr.  Cornyn  said his committee should hold hearings on how the Justice  Department  obtained phone records from AP reporters and editors.

“What  confuses me is the focus on the press, who have a constitutional right  here, and we depend on the press to get to the bottom of so many issues  that  we, as individuals, cannot,” Mr. Cornyn  said.

Mr. Cornyn said the  Justice  Department’s actions were part of a pattern for President Obama’s  administration to quiet its critics.

“It’s a culture of cover-ups and intimidation that is giving the administration  so much trouble,” Mr. Cornyn said.

He  also renewed his call for Attorney General Eric  H. Holder Jr. to resign,  citing the contempt citation the House  of Representatives voted against  him last year for refusing to turn over  documents in a failed government  gun-smuggling sting.

White House senior adviser Dan  Pfeiffer said  the president “has complete faith in Attorney General Holder.” He also  insisted the White  House was not involved in the decision to seek AP  phone records.

“A cardinal rule is we don’t get involved in independent investigations — and  this is one of those,” Mr. Pfeiffer  said.

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Click below for the full article.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/19/ap-ceo-calls-justice-departments-records-seizure-u/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS

 

05.18.13
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Dallas Voice: Judge says lesbian mom’s partner must go; Enforces ‘morality clause’

Page Price and Carolyn Compton have been together for almost three years, but a Collin County judge is forcing them apart.

Judge John Roach Jr., a Republican who presides over the 296th District Court, enforced the “morality clause” in Compton’s divorce papers on Tuesday, May 7. Under the clause, someone who has a “dating or intimate relationship” with the person or is not related “by blood or marriage” is not allowed after 9 p.m. when the children are present. Price was given 30 days to move out of the home because the children live with the couple.

Price posted about the judge’s ruling on Facebook last week, writing that the judge placed the clause in the divorce papers because he didn’t like Compton’s “lifestyle.”

“Our children are all happy and well adjusted. By his enforcement, being that we cannot marry in this state, I have been ordered to move out of my home,” Price wrote.

Price also mentions that Compton’s ex-husband rarely sees their two children and was once charged with stalking Compton. She said he also hired a private investigator in order to bring the case before the judge. Court records show the ex-husband, Joshua Compton, was charged with third-degree felony stalking in 2011 but pleaded to a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespassing.

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Click below for the full article.

http://www.dallasvoice.com/judge-lesbian-moms-partner-10147997.html

05.18.13
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Reason.com: The IRS Abuse Scandal Keeps Growing; An audit of the agency’s behavior unearths disturbing new information.

Reading the highly critical report by the Internal Revenue Service’s auditor, you get the sense that rogue, lower-level agents ran amok, writing up watch lists, targeting conservative agencies, and stalling their applications for tax-exempt status.

At least IRS management has painted a picture of misguided underlings who acted “inappropriately,” finally offering a mea culpa a couple years after claims that Tea Party groups being hung up, even harassed, by tax agents began filtering in.

Lois Lerner, director of the IRS’ exempt organizations unit, apologized a week ago for front-line employees who inappropriately flagged for further review organizations with the descriptors, “tea party” or “patriot.”

“We had a shortcut in the process. It wasn’t appropriate.  We learned about it and we fixed it,” Lerner said, emphatically denying that the segregation of applications and the lengthy delays in processing them merely based on conservative-sounding names had absolutely nothing to do with partisan politics.

But a report released late Tuesday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the independent overseer of the IRS, points to lax management and at least ignorance of federal code governing tax-exemption review. And while TIGTA may not employ the term “targeted” in its scathing review, the auditor blasts the IRS for singling out conservative groups, asking them a host of unnecessary questions and, in many cases, grinding the application process to a halt.

More than anything, the IRS’ “inappropriate” measures threaten public confidence, the report notes.

“The mission of the IRS is to provide America’s taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and by applying the tax law with integrity and fairness to all.  According to IRS Policy Statement 1-1, IRS employees accomplish this mission by being impartial and handling tax matters in a manner that will promote public confidence,” the audit states.

“However, the criteria developed by the (IRS) Determinations Unit gives the appearance that the IRS is not impartial in conducting its mission.  The criteria focused narrowly on the names and policy positions of organizations instead of tax-exempt laws and Treasury Regulations.”

BOLO List

The audit depicts agents in 2010, earlier than IRS brass previously had stated, pulling out 501(c)(4) applications with “Tea Party, Patriots, or 9/12 in the organizations name,” as well as “political-sounding names.” In May 2010, the Determinations Unit began developing a spreadsheet that would become known as the “Be On the Look Out” list, according to the audit. By August, the unit began distributing the first formal BOLO list.

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Click below for the full article.
http://reason.com/archives/2013/05/18/the-irs-abuse-scandal-keeps-growing
05.17.13
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Reuters: White House fights and loses battle to withhold Benghazi records

President Barack Obama’s White House fought and lost a battle to avoid making public what it claimed were confidential records of internal deliberations over the attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya last September.

Obama administration officials portray their unsuccessful effort to avoid disclosing the records as the end result of a process of “accommodation” which the government’s executive branch routinely uses to respond to frequent requests and subpoenas by Congress for sensitive materials.

But some politicians and legal experts say the administration’s decision to not release the records sooner may have backfired, prolonging the controversy and deepening the determination of critics in Congress to keep the story alive.

“I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who accused the administration of trying to “stonewall Congress at every turn.”

The administration at first refused to show copies of the Benghazi records, including emails and drafts of what proved to be inaccurate public “talking points” about the attack, to anyone outside the executive branch.

In the face of escalating congressional demands for the materials, the administration then offered closed-door briefings on these, officials said.

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Click below for the full article.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/17/us-usa-benghazi-legal-idUSBRE94G0VZ20130517

05.16.13
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The Daily Beast: Is Obama Worse For Press Freedom Than Nixon?

Is Obama Worse Than Nixon?

President Barack H. Obama’s outrageous seizure of the Associated Press’s phone records, allegedly to discover sources of leaks, should surprise no one. Obama has relentlessly pursued leakers ever since he became president. He is fast becoming the worst national security press president ever, and it may not get any better.

It is believed that Obama’s Justice Department sought AP’s records to find the source of a leak that informed an AP story about a failed terrorist attack. What makes this action particularly egregious is that Justice didn’t tell AP what it was doing until two months after it obtained the records. This not only violates Justice Department guidelines for subpoenas of this sort, but also common sense, decency, and the First Amendment.

 

Under the guidelines, subpoenas concerning the press cannot be issued without the express approval of the Attorney General. Further, before a subpoena is issued, the government is honor bound to negotiate with the party to which it is directed.

 

While Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. may have approved the subpoena, he apparently never told AP about it. In the meantime, the Justice Department for two months has had all the details of AP’s newsgathering. AP could bring a lawsuit to declare its First Amendment rights have been violated and seek a return of its records. Gary Pruitt, President of AP, has already made a demand for them.

 

While this legal action by AP is possible, the government has picked the one federal jurisdiction most favorable to it for obtaining the source of leaks, namely, the federal court in the District of Columbia. Its subpoenas were directed to telephone companies located in D.C.

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The Liberty Report Take:  While Neocons, GOP Establishment, and general Conservative folks would all probably say Obama is the worst President not just for Freedom but overall, he probably has a ways to go before reaching the level of his predecessor W. or Richard Nixon.  After all, Nixon was the man who enhanced a Big Brother Government, got us off the gold standard, and started the unconstitutional war on drugs.

Click below for the full article.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/14/is-obama-worse-for-press-freedom-than-nixon.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thedailybeast%2Farticles+%28The+Daily+Beast+-+Latest+Articles%29

 

05.16.13
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NY Times: Early E-Mails on Benghazi Show Internal Divisions

E-mails released by the White House on Wednesday revealed a fierce internal jostling over the government’s official talking points in the aftermath of last September’s attack in Benghazi, Libya, not only between the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency, but at the highest levels of the C.I.A.

The 100 pages of e-mails showed a disagreement between David H. Petraeus, then the director of the C.I.A., and his deputy, Michael J. Morell, over how much to disclose in the talking points, which were used by Susan E. Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations, in television appearances days after the attack.

Mr. Morell, administration officials said, deleted a reference in the draft version of the talking points to C.I.A. warnings of extremist threats in Libya, which State Department officials objected to because they feared it would reflect badly on them.

Mr. Morell, officials said, acted on his own and not in response to pressure from the State Department. But when the final draft of the talking points was sent to Mr. Petraeus, he dismissed them, saying “Frankly, I’d just as soon not use this,” adding that the heavily scrubbed account would not satisfy the House Democrat who had requested it.

“This is certainly not what Vice Chairman Ruppersberger was hoping to get,” Mr. Petraeus wrote, referring to Representative C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, which had asked Mr. Petraeus for talking points to use with reporters in discussing the attack on Benghazi.

The White House released the e-mails to reporters after Republicans seized on snippets of the correspondence that became public on Friday to suggest that President Obama’s national security staff had been complicit in trying to alter the talking points for political reasons.

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Click below for the full article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/us/politics/e-mails-show-jostling-over-benghazi-talking-points.html?_r=0